Know what’s awesome when you lose your partner during a natural disaster? When you’re blocked from making funeral arrangements because you have no legal standing. That was Charlene Strong’s battle in 2006, when partner Kate Fleming died in the Seattle-area flood. Her story (featured in the film For My Wife) is just one of many we need to hear more of as Washington fights to pass Referendum 71 to grant domestic partnership rights to the state’s 12,000 registered couples, and the countless others who could benefit.

(NB: Interestingly, the Equal Rights Washington Education Fund, which produced this ad, cannot specifically advocate for Ref 71 because of its non-profit status.)